WEYBURN - Repairs to the gymnasium floor could be in the works at the Carievale School, according to information at the South East Cornerstone Public School Division’s board meeting Dec. 21 in Weyburn.
A recent fund-raising event in that community raised $40,000 in one fell swoop. Subdivision 3 trustee Jim Henderson delivered that good news.
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During opening round table discussions, information was received that the board members have had an opportunity to meet with southeast Saskatchewan MLAs Darryl Harrison, Lori Carr and Dustin Duncan recently.
The main message relayed to the MLAs was the difficulty the board had in establishing budgets under the current setup and how difficult it was to make longer range plans. It is noted that Duncan is the current minister of Education.
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Board members were informed and entertained with the presentation of two short videos from McNaughton High School in Moosomin and Stoughton Central School.
The videos included positive student and educator testimonials about the opportunities and adventures to be found within and beyond the school facility itself and how they embraced their overall communities.
Some focus was placed on academic as well as arts, music and athletic adventures and the work of the school community councils.
Stoughton included some of the values they picked up by being engaged in First Nations events at the Ocean Man First Nations) events that supported a land-based culture and a tradition learning section in their curriculum.
In Moosomin, it was noted they embraced the idea that the school with 400 students is “big enough for opportunity and small enough for connection”, with their town and region with a variety of traditional academic courses as well as practical and applied arts.
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During the latter part of the meeting, director of education Keith Keating spoke to the board in a discussion regarding board engagement with students.
Superintendent of schools Aaron Hiske also joined the discussion, pointing out how additional learning adventures are often added to increase and improve student engagement. This might include a more advanced dive into such things as robotics on top of regular science courses.
He said when students seek options, the educators and schools will seek out avenues that may be explored to meet these desires. That would include a survey of educators and instructors who might be interested in getting involved in certain projects.
Another item is general technology, said Keating. Accessibility to these advanced courses is the key in many cases, said Husband.
The truth and reconciliation courses using land-based learning techniques delivered by First Nations and/or Métis instructors is another example of the expansion of the learning experiences, said Keating.
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The financial update to the end of November, delivered by the Marilyn Yurkiw, manager of finance and payroll, was brief and to the point, as she noted that in the first quarter of the new fiscal year, with an expected revenue stream of just over $108 million, the division was currently on track to meet requirements.
The board will be holding their next open business session on Jan. 18, 2023 starting at 1 p.m. in the division head office in Weyburn.
